


The Dream Team

by Youtube_Trash



Category: Banana Bus Squad
Genre: But also maybe a tiny bit fast-paced, Delirious is a Voice Actor, Evan is a masseur, Height difference, M/M, Mentions of Attempted Suicide, Slow Burn, and death of OCs, and injuries, but other than that it should be pretty happy, i still don't know how to tag and it's been like a year, oh it's an AU, originally i was like Voice Actor AU, pretty much everyone, that?, this is gonna get depressing, uh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-18
Updated: 2018-05-31
Packaged: 2019-03-21 02:46:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13731489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Youtube_Trash/pseuds/Youtube_Trash
Summary: Evan is a masseur and Jonathan is a voice actor. Jonathan goes in for a massage and immediately knew that he needed Evan to voice act for a character in a new show he's signed off on. Evan is not as keen as Jonathan to do so.*SCRAPPED* (i can't write this anymore, I don't know where I'm going with it)





	1. The Client

**Author's Note:**

> New thing! yay! This is heavily, heavily inspired by all the videos that these two have been doing recently with like voice acting and skits, like Team 6 and del's animations. I dunno, i thought it'd be an interesting idea to write about. And as usual, things take a darker turn than I originally intended. (But that's for later! :P)
> 
> As always I hope you enjoy! I love all comments, questions, and kudos!

“Evan, you have a new client today.” Marcel teased from the reception desk. 

Evan looked up from his magazine. “I know.” 

“You almost never get new clients that haven’t heard of you.”

Evan raised an eyebrow. “Wait. Two questions. I thought he heard of me through one of his friends. And how do you know that?”

Marcel chuckled. “When I asked him if he wanted the famous masseur Evan Fong, he kinda paused before saying, ‘who?’. It was kinda funny.”

“Whatever.” Evan munched on the sandwich to his right. “I’m on break.”

“You can’t have that attitude when you work in the best Massage Therapy Spa in LA.”

“Shut up.”

“Dude, you’ve given massages to celebrities.”

“It’s not as fun as you think. One time, a girl smeared her makeup and yelled at me for thirty minutes. Marcel. _ Thirty minutes _ .”

Marcel chuckled. “I remember that. Your face was priceless.” He fiddled with the little succulents on the desk. 

It was a really slow day, thus why Marcel and Evan were being so casual. A total of two people had come through the glass doors into the white waiting area decorated with green plants and blue flowers. Evan had served both, since he was the only masseur working today. At their spa, reservations were required, so the employees tend to have a heads up on fast or slow days. 

“Anyways, why do you bring it up?” Evan said, still eating his sandwich. 

“Because his appointment is scheduled ten minutes from now and clients are supposed to arrive fifteen minutes prior.”

Evan almost fell out off his chair. He shoved the rest of his sandwich into his mouth and jolted up so fast his magazine fell onto the floor. He ran to the back to get ready, cursing into his sandwich the entire way there. 

“Shit, shit, shit.” He quickly scrubbed his hands until they were impeccably clean, and yanked on some gloves. He straightened his top, made sure he looked presentable, and went into room one, the closest to the waiting room.

He sat on the counter casually, waiting for Marcel to bring the client into the room. At the beginning of this job, people told him he was way too casual, but a lot of clients appreciated casual. Especially regulars. Evan looked at the ceiling while he waited. It’s always refreshing to have a new client. It’s a puzzle trying to figure out where there stress comes from, why they are so tense. And how to ease some of that stress in a way that fits the person. See their body type, look at the muscles that reflect their life, and soothe them. It’s a nice job. Takes some getting used to, but nice. And stress relieving in its own way.

After a few minutes the door opened, revealing Marcel and the client, who was looking at the ground. “And this here is your masseur, Mr. Fong.”

The man was short. Shorter than both Marcel and Evan. He reached about Evan’s nose, but he had a large presence. He had medium length unruly black hair with long bangs that covered a lot of his face. He wore glasses and looked tired as fuck. But, underneath the black glasses and hair, there were striking blue eyes that seemed almost electric. He was wearing a simple V-neck and some skinny jeans with ripped knees. He had a watch on and black painted nails. He looked surprisingly young as well. Too young to have enough money for their spa considering Evan didn’t recognize him as a celebrity.  _ Interesting.  _

“Please, call me Evan.” Evan extended his hand for a handshake.

The man’s head shot up, revealing wide blue eyes that were staring right at Evan. He didn’t take the handshake, he just quietly mumbled something.

Evan dropped his hand. “I’m sorry?”

The man blushed. “Oh god, no, sorry.” He held out his hand in apology. Evan took it. It was a firm handshake. “I just-wow.”

Evan smiled. “Wow?”

“The name’s Jonathan. Nice to meet you Evan.” He said quickly.

“Have a nice massage sir. Evan, if you need anything, you know what to do.” Marcel said, before leaving and closing the door behind him.

“Well then, Jonathan, come sit on the table please.”

Jonathan looked at the ground again, using his hair to cover his blush, and walked over to the table. He had to hop onto the table a little bit so he was sitting on it properly. Evan held back a little laugh. 

“Would you kindly take off your shirt? This first part is basically a diagnosis. I’ll see where you’re the most tense and need the most attention, so that I can tailor the massage to you.”

Jonathan nodded and Evan watched as he gripped the edges of his shirt and carefully began to pull it off. He immediately picked up on the reluctance of his shoulders to move in that way. 

“Jonathan, did that hurt you in any wa-” Evan stopped because now that Jonathan’s shirt was off, it revealed tattoos that spread from his wrist up his left arm, all the way to the end of his shoulder blade. They were beautifully done, clearly it had taken time and had been multiple trips to the tattoo artist, but they seemed to melt into one another in a perfect way. The color choice was also artfully done. Up on his shoulder blade, it was like someone has taken the most vibrant colors of watercolor and splashed it on his shoulder. It looked like real watercolor, the texture was incredible. Then the vibrant primary colors turned into more subdued colors, before eventually turning into blacks and greys down to his wrist. The theme of the tattoos fit with the colors as well, plants and flowers, succulents, that kind of thing were in the brighter colors, and more tribal style and punk-esque things were in the blacks. One stuck out to him, right on his wrist, there was a very steampunk style tattoo, one that made it seem like his wrist was full of gears, wires, and tubing, all done with black tattoo ink. Very rarely had Evan been so impressed with tattoos, considering he had been brought up to dislike them.  _ It must’ve cost a lot of money for these.  _

“Sorry?” Jonathan asked quietly, causing Evan to snap back to reality.

“Oh, it just looked like that motion caused you a lot of pain.” Evan said.

“Yeah, it did. A few years back, I shattered my scapula. There’s still a lot of pain when I move it in the wrong way.”

“Hmm.” Evan said. He wondered if that’s why he had a tattoos on the shoulder blade. Maybe there were surgical scars he wanted to cover up. He sees a lot of that. “Let’s see if I can do anything for that pain.”  

Jonathan exhaled lightly. “That’d be nice.”

“Alright Jonathan.” Evan walked over to the varying cabinets, pulling out some different oils and scrubs. “You allergic to anything?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Nice. Then, let’s get started.” Evan grabbed two different essential oils and walked over to the table. 

“Um..” Jonathan said hesitantly.

“Yes?”

“I’d rather you don’t wear gloves, the feeling irritates my skin.” He said quietly, staring at his legs.

“Oh, sure, no problem. I always start with them on since I had one client who yelled at me for ages because I didn’t have them on.” He saw Jonathan blushing and smiled to himself. “Plenty of people ask me to take them off, stop being so embarrassed.”

Jonathan nodded.

Evan rolled his eyes, chuckling to himself. People were always really embarrassed with the entire massage in general their first time. He blamed porn. “Alright Jonathan, you scheduled this for a normal relaxing back massage, so I need to see where’ll need the most work.”

“Okay.”

Evan started with his shoulders, now knowing a lot of his pain was centralized there. It was no surprise to him once he felt how tense both his shoulders were. 

“You stressed at all, Jonathan?”

“When am I ever not?” Evan heard the smile in his voice. But at the same time, he sounded like he didn’t want to talk about it. 

“Well, luckily, you being stressed all the time gives me a job.” Evan said, rubbing at Jonathan’s pressure points.

Jonathan laughed at that, making Evan pause. “Is something wrong?” Jonathan asked.

Evan smiled. “Sorry.” He went back to hitting Jonathan’s pressure points to relax him. “It’s just, you’ve been pretty quiet, but I swear I’ve heard your laugh somewhere before.”

“Good. That laugh is what got me my job.”

“Oh?”

“I’ll tell you at the end of the massage.”

Evan raised an eyebrow.  _ Interesting guy. _ “Okay then.”

“Can you do me a favor?”

“Depends on the favor.”   
“Just keep talking.”

“I’m sorry?”  _ Really  _ interesting guy.

“Tell stories, or things about yourself. Anything.” 

“May I ask why?”

Jonathan chuckled. “I’ll tell you at the end of the massage.”

“Oh, so it’s gonna be like this?” Evan laughed. “Alright, it’s a deal.”

* * *

 

“And there! All done.” 

“Oh my god, I never thought you’d stop talking about video games and music, you nerd. And the bad puns! They were  _ never ending _ !” Jonathan said, sitting up from where he was laying on the table. He stretched, taking a deep breath. “Holy shit, that was incredible. I feel much better.”

“I’m not scared to say I’m good at my job.” He handed Jonathan his folded shirt, before crossing his arms. 

“Now, we had a deal. Why did you have me talk to you that entire time?”

“To confirm something.” Jonathan said as he pulled on his shirt. He swung his legs around so he was facing Evan while still sitting. “Would you like another job?”

Evan let his arms fall to his side. “What?”

“See, I’m a voice actor. That’s probably where you’ve heard my laugh before. I’ve been on a few shows. But, there’s this new one, a superhero mecha kids show that I’m signed off on, but we need another lead. There’s five leads total, and the one we’re in need of another voice for would be perfect for you. Your voice would be perfect for his personality and honestly, you kind of look like the character designs of him. That’s why I was so awkward when I first heard your voice, I knew immediately that it would be perfect.”

Evan felt like his jaw was on the ground. “Uh, sorry, but I can’t, I’m a masseur, I’ve never even acted in my life, I’ve never even been in a play or-”

“Excuses!” Jonathan smiled. “Anyone can act! Trust me. Look, at least come to a read-through. You won’t even have to read or audition. Just listen.”

“I’ll think about it. Now, I have another client coming in pretty soon, and our time is up.” Evan turned Jonathan around and began pushing him towards the door.

Jonathan spoke over his shoulder while being pushed. 

“Come on Evan, you’re perfect for the character, you have to come.”

“That’s Mr. Fong to you, sir.”

“Huh?!”

“Please come again. I hope you enjoyed the massage!” Evan said, pushing him out the door.

“I’ll keep coming until you agree!!” Jonathan yelled as Evan shut the door in his face.

* * *

 

“You know, you cannot possibly be this well off from simply  _ voice acting _ .” Evan said, fingers rubbing into Jonathan’s pressure points.  

“Mmm, you don’t know that.” 

“This is, what, your fourth visit this week?”

“Fifth, actually.”

“So, then you’ve blown almost $1,000 this week alone.”   
“I  _ know _ .” Jonathan said. “That also raises the question, why do you charge so much freakin’ money?”

“We are the best massage therapy place in Los Angeles. That doesn’t come cheap. We have literal celebrities come in here. Often.”

“I know. Still doesn’t mean you have to charge so much. And I’ not even getting one of the super fancy massages!”

“I don’t force you to come get massages.”   
“Well, I mean, if you’d just come to a read-through, I’d stop spending money, and come when I actually need it.”

“You understand that’s a form of blackmail?”

“It won’t be if you come to a read-through.”

“Or I could just refuse to give you the massages. I’m not the only masseur here.” Evan said, poking particularly hard at Jonathan’s shoulder.

“OW!” Jonathan turned his head around so he could glare at Evan. “That was unnecessary.” 

“So is your pestering.” Evan sighed. “All done for today.” He tossed Jonathan his shirt, no longer folded or anything. Within the five massages he’s giving to Jonathan, he already feels like he’s a close friend. He felt comfortable around him.

“Evan, please. Please, please, please, come on, pleeeaassseeee!”

“You know, when I first met you, you seemed quiet and reserved, but you really talk a lot.” Evan smiled. “It’s like you’re insane.” 

“It’s my job to talk!” Jonathan said. “As for the insanity, that’s kind of true.” He chuckled. 

“Oh, are you actually insane?”

“Maybe. You’ll find out if you go to the read-through.”

“There’s no way I’ll go.”

“I’ll buy you dinner!” Evan was met with a very determined Jonathan..

Evan was completely taken aback. “You think bribing me will get me to go?”

“I’m desperate!”

Evan sighed. Honestly, a dinner with Jonathan sounded very appealing to him. But dinner alone also sounded good. “I won’t have to read?”

“Nope, just listen.”

“Fine. I’ll go. Give me your phone number and text me the address and the time.”

“REALLY?!” Jonathan lit up like a light. His smile was one of pure excitement. Evan smiled softly. 

“Sure. But you better treat me to the best fucking meal I’ve ever had.” 

“Do you work late tonight?”

“No, Craig takes over at 5.”

“Then, how about dinner tonight?” 

“Just call me when you’re going to pick me up, okay?”

Evan watched Jonathan’s smile grow even more. He didn’t think it was possible.

“Alright.”

Evan walked him out, thanking him for coming. He had a few clients after that, including two regulars. Both of them said that he was oddly quiet. He didn’t respond when they asked why.  

By the time Craig walked into work holding a starbucks cup, Evan was getting ready for the dinner. 

“How was it today?” Craig asked Marcel on his way in.

“Not too bad.” Marcel said. “Evan’s in the back.”

“Got it.” Craig walked past all the rooms into the back, where the employee lockers were. “Evan. What the hell are you doing?” He said after finding him fiddling with his hair and clothes. He opened his locker and began to change.

Evan sighed. “Does my hair look stupid?”

“It always looks stupid.” Craig said as he pulled on the uniform.

“But, actually, does it?” Evan said quietly, looking at himself in the little mirror in his locker.   
“You look fine Evan.” Craig sipped his coffee, closing his locker. “You have a date?”

“I don’t really know.”

“Did he or she say it was a date?”

“No, it’s a bribe.”

“So it’s not a date.”

“No, it’s not.” 

“Then stop getting all dressed up like you’re going on a date.” Craig walked out, mumbling about Evan being a weirdo, leaving him alone in front of his locker.

Evan stared at himself in the mirror. He knew this wasn’t a date. There was no way of knowing whether Jonathan swung that way, in any way. He wasn’t even sure if he was into Jonathan. He was definitely attractive, and was slightly mysterious in his own way,  but Evan didn't think he liked him or anything. He’s known him for five days. So why did he keep feeling like he was underdressed? This isn’t a date.

He almost jumped out of his skin when his phone rang.

“Hello?”

“It’s Jonathan, I’ll be there in under five minutes.”

“Alright. I’ll wait outside.”

“Okay.”

The line went dead. Evan sighed before slamming his locker shut and heading out into the lobby area and sitting down.

Marcel snorted from the desk. “Normally you basically sprint to get home. Why are you in here with me?”

“Waiting for my ride.” Evan said, watching the windows. 

“Oh? From who? Tyler?”

“No, from Jonathan.”

“Who?”

“The new regular.”

“The one is who wears a lot of black and has those bangs that cover too much of his face?”

Evan nodded lightly. 

“Evan. You’re letting a CLIENT drive you home.”

“After we go to dinner.” Evan said quietly, pulling out his phone. 

“YOU HAVE A DATE WITH A CLIENT?!” Marcel shot out of his chair. 

“It’s not a date.” Evan sighed. “It’s a bribe.”

“For?”

Evan opened up Instagram, going through his feed. “Nothing.”

“You expect me to believe that?”

“No, it is something. I’ll tell you later.” Evan put his phone back in his pocket.

“What? Why?”

“Because he’s here.” Evan saw Jonathan turn off the engine of his car and pull out his phone. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Marcel!”

“I WANT ANSWERS!”

Evan chuckled as he left the building, walking to the car he saw Jonathan drive in with. He saw that he was fiddling with his phone, the brightness of it lighting his face. Evan tapped on the window carefully, causing Jonathan to basically jump out of his skin. He saw Jonathan recognize him and lean across the car to open the door for him.   
“You scared the shit out of me!” He said as Evan climbed in. “I was about to call you.”

Evan smiled. “I saw you drive in. I figured I’d meet you halfway, since your paying for my dinner tonight.”

He saw Jonathan glance at him nervously as he started to reverse out of the parking spot. 

“What?”

“You swear you’ll go to a reading after this?”

“If I enjoy the dinner enough.”

“What kind of logic is that?

Evan chuckled lightly and watched the view rush by his window. “No, I’ll go to at least one.”

“That’s all I wanted $1,000 ago.” Jonathan rested his head on his hand while moving the steering wheel occasionally.


	2. Fascination

Evan watched as they ventured into a side of town he rarely goes. He’s not one for fancy restaurants, he prefers comfort food more. And they were definitely heading into the fancier part of town. 

“What restaurant are you taking me to?”

“A nice one.”

Evan snorted. “Doesn’t answer my question.”

“A nice small place I found nestled into this part of town. It’s really old, but serves comfort food for a good price. It’s good too.” Jonathan glanced at Evan. “What?” He asked once he saw Evan’s face.

“I was just thinking that I prefer comfort food. It’s like you read my mind.”

“Maybe I did.” Jonathan said, laughing. “No, it’s just a place I really like.”

They sat in comfortable silence as Jonathan drove towards the restaurant. Jonathan was right, it was a small building nestled between two buildings that were swamped with people in suits and dresses. It looked shabby and deserted compared to the other restaurants. 

“I know how it looks, but wait until you have the food.” Jonathan said as they walked towards the door.

“Okay.”   
“I swear.”

“Okay.”

They walked towards the host counter to be seated. “I can help you order if you're worried or anything, I know it seems odd compared to the places in the area, but-”

“I get it Jonathan. Don’t worry about it.” Evan smiled to the hostess. “Table for two please.”

“Follow me.” She smiled back at them while she grabbed two menus. They were seated in the far corner of the restaurant. The hostess set down the menus and began to walk away. Evan sat down across from Jonathan, who opened his menu to look at the drinks.

Evan glanced down, only really wanting water before glancing up at Jonathan again.

“How’d you find this place Jonathan?”

“You’ll find out.” He said, setting his menu down. 

“Why do I feel like you’ve done this before?”

“Because I have.” Jonathan smiled to himself. “So, Evan. I’ve told you all about me during the massages and shit. Tell me something about you.”

“Like what?”

“How’d you get into giving massages for a living?”

“Well, it started with m first girlfriend, she adored shoulder massages. I wasn’t very good, but I liked the way she’d melt under my hands.” Evan cringed at his school own words. “Wow, that sounds creepier than I intended.” Evan chuckled a little nervously. “So, I wanted to be able to help her more with her stress. I thought it was something that had to do with the love I felt for her or something, but once we broke up, I had a fling with a guy.” Evan said, trying to look anywhere but at Jonathan. He could feel his face growing hot. He usually tried to tell people his sexuality like this, it’s even how he came out to his parents. Just a casual ‘Yeah, Shelby and I broke up but now I’m dating this guy and I’m happy.’ slipped into a conversation about his day. 

“But this guy was unbelievably stressed. You could see it in his muscles. So, I offered to give him a massage. And from there, I figured out it didn’t have to do with love or affection, since that was a fling only. And here we are now.” Evan sighed happily. “I just like kneading stress and pain out of people’s bodies.” 

There was a pause.

“That also sounds creepier than I intended it to.”

“No, I get it. That was just a sweeter story than I thought it would be. I thought you’d just say that you decided on a whi-”

“Jonathan!” Evan watched as someone's arms wrapped around Jonathan’s head, pulling it towards the person. “You didn’t tell me you were coming!” 

Evan looked at the man hugging Jonathan, seeing it was their waiter. He had short black hair gelled out of his face and brown eyes. He had freckles across his cheeks and gave off an innocent aura. But the look he was giving Evan was telling him he was anything but innocent. He looked like he would kill Evan.

“Sorry, sorry.” Jonathan pushed the waiter off of him. “You asked how I found this place. I found it through him.”

The waiter smiled. “I’m Avery, your waiter for the night.”

“He’s my boyfriend.” Jonathan said, turning red.   
Avery nodded aggressively.

“Now you know something important about me. In exchange for what you told me.” Jonathan said, smiling.

Evan smiled back, but he couldn’t help feeling slightly disappointed. He knew it wasn’t a date, but he’s been single for a while now. He got hopeful. 

“What can I get you two to drink?” Avery asked. 

“Iced Tea.” Jonathan said.

“Water, please.” 

Avery smiled. “Coming right up.” He shot a quick glare at Evan before walking off.

“Sorry, he’s really overprotective. But he’s sweet. Really.”

“He seems nice.” Evan said.

“Evan, you’ve said two words to him. I know how he comes across sometimes. You don’t need to lie.”

“It’s like you said, he’s just being protective.”

“Yeah. He’s always been there for me, even when I was in a really, really bad place.” Evan watched as Jonathan fiddled with his wrists.

Evan raised an eyebrow, remembering the tattoos. He wanted to ask, but that’s not something you ask someone who you’ve only known for a week.

“That’s good, we all need someone like that to be there, just in case.” 

He saw Jonathan smile to himself. “Just in case.” He agreed.

Avery walked back with their drinks, setting them on the table before stepping towards Jonathan slightly. Evan almost thought he got the drinks  _ too  _ fast. “Ready to order?”

“I’ll have the usual.” Jonathan said. Avery laughed. 

“Figures.” He said, scribbling something down.

Evan glanced at the menu. “I’ll have the steak.” 

Avery nodded and scribbled something down. “Coming right up.” He walked off, glancing back at Evan and Jonathan, keeping an eye on them. 

There was a long period of silence after this.

“So, Jonathan. Can you tell me about this show?”

Jonathan was glancing at his phone when Evan said this but perked up immediately. “Oh, sure. I play this character called Delirious, but his real name is also Jonathan. That was a complete coincidence, by the way. I had originally auditioned for Nogla, a different character in the show, but they cast me as Jonathan.” He chuckled to himself at that. “He pilots the weapons ship and is good at tech and has a long history with the character I’m trying to get you to play. He’s a little crazy, and he has a big sense of humor and is super optimistic. Almost the opposite of me.” Jonathan looked at the table “That’s who I play, and I want you to play Vanoss.” He looked back up at Evan. “Vanoss is the playboy, the one who kinda sleeps around if you’re looking at it from an adult standpoint. He’s the cook for the crew and a great pilot. But, he gets scared easily and is a HUGE mess in his own way, especially because he’s really clumsy. But Vanoss is really good with close range combat, so he gets sent on stealth missions with Delirious and he dual wields swords. Delirious uses a bow and arrow, but all fancy tech-y or something.”

“Sounds cool.”

“It is. So basically, Delirious and Nogla stumble on this robot basically buried under the earth. They don’t know what the hell it is, but end up climbing in it, exploring. There, they find weapons of all sorts and some really impressive tech. But they also find a recording of people tied up in a room. Tortured. It won’t be clear enough for kids to understand, adults and teens will. Those are the other guys, Vanoss, Ohm, and Moo. Delirious recognizes Vanoss and freaks the fuck out, saying they need to find them, but they get drugged and put with the others later on. That starts the government conspiracy part, because when Delirious and Nogla come to, everon is free in a room with the robots. Then they have to go through trials to earn their respective robot. They get told they have to pursue an enemy in space, so the show centers around that enemy and the strategies and dealing with that, but there really is no enemy, the characters are being used as puppets for the government to find alien species and planets and find “resources” for the governments on earth to exploit. In untested technology. That’s the end game.”

“Wow.” Evan said. “Okay. That’s, uh, a lot.”

Jonathan chuckled nervously. “It is, but I think it’ll be a really, really good show. Although I guess it’s more of a show aimed at teenagers. But we need someone for Vanoss. Everyone we’ve looked at just isn’t right. We’ve tried. That’s why when I saw you, I knew you were perfect.”

Evan laughed. “You thought I was perfect for the character that sleeps around. Thanks.”   
He saw a look of panic cross Jonathan’s face. “It was a joke, Jonathan, just a joke, it’s okay.”

Jonathan smiled at him, but didn’t laugh. 

“Now, I’m still not sure, I have enough on my plate already. But, I’ll go the reading and decide afterwards.”

“That’s perfectly fine.”

* * *

 

Evan waved at Jonathan as he drove off, away from the spa, where Evan had left his car. He waved until Jonathan’s car was completely out of sight before slowly letting his hand drop to his side. He pulled his keys out of his pocket and started pacing to his car, feeling the cold breeze run through him. 

It had been a nice dinner, but Jonathan couldn’t linger, he had to meet Avery back at their house. Apparently. Evan climbed into his car, firing it up and heading home. 

He figured he should do the show, it sounded like it’d be fun, and he could use more money. He was paid well at the spa, but he could always use more money. He’d like another guitar and some new nicer clothes. Maybe a new kitchen set. 

He considered it as he drove home. He’d love to be able to work alongside Jonathan, he thinks they could end up being really good friends, they get along well even after only five days of knowing each other. Evan knew that even though he looked a little awkward, he was actually very outgoing and loud. He knew that he also enjoyed video games and music. He knew that his voice could draw him in so fast. Evan could listen to him talk for years. He stumbled on his words a lot, but it’d make him and Evan crack up laughing. It was obvious how Jonathan was able to become a Voice Actor, his voice was mesmerizing. 

Evan pulled into his driveway, cutting the engine. 

He paused as he got out of his car. He knew all about Jonathan’s job. But he didn’t really know about Jonathan himself. 

And the weird thing was that even after only five days of knowing him, he realized he wanted to know more. Especially about his habit of fiddling with his wrists and the story his tattoos told. He wanted to know about his injury, he wanted to know about Avery, he wanted to know what Jonathan loved, he wanted to know the things he told Avery, the things he tells his family. Everything. A  suffocating kind of everything. Evan wanted to know everything as soon as possible. He was just so intriguing. It was a fascination.

Evan sighed before walking into his house, immediately throwing his stuff on the counter and heading to his bedroom to change. He was nervous to say the least, knowing he was thinking like this. He knew what it meant.

He sighed before throwing himself onto his bed. He grabbed at his phone, noticing a few texts from Marcel and Mini, asking how his “not date” went? He decided to ignore those texts. He pulled up his contact for Jonathan, the profile picture being a photo of him laughing that Evan took from his instagram. He went to their messages. There were close to none, just information mostly. Evan typed his message quickly, asking when the reading was.

Jonathan responded almost immediately.

_ Tuesday, at noon, at this address:  _

Followed by a screenshot.

Evan nodded to himself a bit, and set his phone aside, thinking the conversation was over. But a buzz from his phone told him otherwise.

_ Evan! I’m bored. Avery isn’t home yet, talk to me!! _

Evan shoved his head into the pillow and smiled. He shifted so he was on his side and looked at his phone, still smiling to himself a bit.

**_Okay._ **

_ What are you doing? :) _

**_Laying in bed._ **

_ What? Are you an old man?! _

**_RUDE._ **

_ It’s too early for bed! _

**_Fine, what’re you doing then?_ **

_ Sitting on my couch, waiting for Avery, and texting you. Two of those three things have been established. BUT THE QUESTION STILL REMAINS: WHY ARE IN YOU IN BED? _

**_SOME OF US HAVE TO GO TO WORK EARLY!_ **

_ FEELS BAD.  _ Followed by a gif.

**_I hate you so much right now._ **

_ Sucks for you! Oh, Avery’s back, I gotta go! I’ll see you Tuesday! _

**_See you Tuesday! And Jonathan?_ **

_ Hm? _

**_Will you still come get massages now that you don’t need to blackmail me?_ **

_ ……...yes. _

Evan put his phone on his side table, letting himself drift to sleep while Jonathan, across town, had left his phone on the couch and was arguing with Avery. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a more exposition-based chapter, but I hope everyone enjoyed it! I enjoy writing these chapters, and boy do I have plans for where this story is going to go. And thank everyone so so much for all the feedback, seeing the kudos and reading the comments always makes my day.  
> As always, I hope ye enjoy!!!


	3. The Reading

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm super sorry it's been so long, I've been suffering from serious writer's block and school has actually been killing me. I rewrote this chapter many times, because it was never good, but I like how it turned out. Hopefully my next update will be sooner. I'm very sorry for the wait.  
> I hope you enjoy!

Evan glared at the shirts he had spread out across his bed. Should he go for simplistic, tight clothing or layered, fashionable clothing?

He looked at the shirt he had under a hoodie which was under a leather jacket. It was supposed to rain today. He deliberated for a few more moments before shrugging and grabbing the layers. He can ditch some if he gets too hot. He should be inside and it shouldn’t be too bad. He pulled on the outfit and pulled up his black skinny jeans a tiny bit. He sat on his bed and started to pull on his shoes.  

Jonathan was supposed to be here any second to drive him. It wasn’t the plan originally but Evan asked and Jonathan obliged, saying he didn’t mind as long as he got a discount on his next massage. 

Evan said he could make that happen. 

He won’t. 

That comes out of his paycheck. 

After he finished lacing up his shoes he went to the bathroom to get ready, yanking on his glasses and quickly running his hands through his hair. 

He flopped back onto his bed, anxiously waiting for a knock on his door. 

When it came, he sat up so aggressively that he hurt his neck.

“OW!” He said, feeling a thick shot of pain run along his spine. He rubbed the back of his neck, tears clinging to his eyelashes. He rubbed his neck as he walked to his door. Opening it to reveal Jonathan, who was smiling. He looked really good. His hair was still too messy and covering too much of his face, but he was smiling and looked very happy. He was wearing a loose tank top and some black skinny jeans ripped at the knees. There was a blue jacket wrapped around his waist and it matched blue high top shoes.

“You ready?”

“Yeah, thanks for driving me.”

“No problem, I should’ve offered in the first place.”

“Come in?” Evan gestured to the inside of his house.

“Nah, another time. We’re gonna be late if we don’t get going. Besides, I’m in charge of getting the food for today’s reading, so we’ll have to make a stop anyways.”

“You get food for your readings?”

“Yeah, at least in every session I’ve been to, someone is always in charge of getting food. We try to keep it fairly healthy, but we always resort to donuts and pizza.” He laughed lightly before turning around and gesturing at Evan to follow him towards his car.  

Evan made sure to lock his door behind him before jogging to catch up with Jonathan.

“So what is it today?”

“What?”

“Donuts or pizza?”

Jonathan laughed again as he climbed into the driver’s seat of his car. “Sandwiches today actually. We’re gonna stop by my favorite bakery to take care of it. They have like costco level sandwich trays.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Evan said, closing his car door. 

And before he knew it, he had a sandwich tray in his lap and they were parked in front of a pretty small building. 

Jonathan got out and before Evan could open the door himself, opened it and held out his hand for the tray. Evan obliged and got out of the car himself. He followed Jonathan as they walked towards the building. It was a plain building, like a beige block sitting on a corner. There were lots of windows and the inside looked mostly black.

Jonathan held the front door open for Evan before following him inside.

The receptionist looked up at the sound of the door.

“Oh, what’s up Jon?” She said.

“Not much. Sandwiches today. Want one?” He offered her the tray.

“Don’t mind if I do.” She eagerly took one. “Show me your security pass Jonathan.”   
“What?! You know it’s me!”

“You do your job, I gotta do mine. Pass. Now.”

Evan watched as Jonathan sighed and pulled a card out of his pocket. “Here.” He showed it to her.

“Alright. You can go through.” She said, not even glancing at the card. Instead, she looked at Evan. “Is this the one you were talking about?”

Jonathan nodded. “This is Evan. Evan, this is Sam.”

“Nice to meet you.” Evan said. 

“Ohhh, I see what you meant Jon.” She fiddled with something on her desk. “Here, Evan.” She put a blank card on up on the counter in front of her. “You gotta use this guest pass. When you sign the contract, you’ll get an official pass that you need to show me every time you come here. Which will be often. Now, off you guys go. Thanks for the sandwich.”

Jonathan smiled and walked off, the tray in his hands. Evan grabbed the guest pass and followed.    
“Have fun!” Sam teased. 

Once past another door and walking down a grey hallway, Evan couldn’t stop himself from voicing something. “What did she mean when she said she saw what you meant?”

“Oh.” Evan watched Jonathan blush a little bit. “I might’ve been talking about you quite a bit. See, most of these guys, I’ve worked with them before. Especially Ryan, who’ll play Ohm, and Daithi, who’ll be playing Nogla. They’re close friends. I’ve worked with them before and I even went to the same college as Ryan. The other guy, Brock, I haven’t worked with before. But he’s really fun to be around. Won’t shut up about his kid though. But they were wondering why I was excited. So I told them about you.”

“Even though you didn’t know for sure whether or not I’d agree to this.”

Evan was walking behind Jonathan so he couldn’t see his face, but he could hear the smirk in his voice. 

“Evan, I’ve known since the second massage that you’d say yes.”

“WHAT, HOW?!”

He saw Jonathan chuckle before stopping abruptly and opening a door to his left. “Follow me.” He said before walking inside.

Evan followed and was met with loud laughter. None of which he had heard outside. Evan glanced at the sound proofing on the walls. It was impressive. The room was big, and it was black basically everywhere. The mics, headphones, and music stands to put the scripts on were in a neat circle in the center of the room. There were chairs in front of each of the stands and mics. In the back corner of the room, there was a big table and that’s where everyone was centered. Jonathan immediately walked over to the table, where there were four people gathered. They were all fairly tall and were well-built. He watched Jonathan place the tray on the table and hug each of them.

“Evan, get over here!” He heard him say. 

Evan walked over hesitantly. 

“Evan, this is Luke, the sound guy. And a close friend.” He pointed to a tall guy with a hearty laugh and a beard.

“Nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“This is Ryan.” He was taller than Evan and had close cropped brown hair an a small beard that hugged his jawline. He had kind green eyes and a face that almost screamed compassion. He was basically leaning on Luke. 

“Hi!” He said.

“Brock.” Jonathan said, gesturing to a the man with really short hair wearing a smash bros shirt. 

“Hello.”

“And lastly, Daithi.” 

A tall, kind of lanky man wearing glasses waved. 

“Is it normally this empty?”

“Sorry?” Brock asked. 

“I mean, I expected more people to be here.”

“Normally there are.” Luke said. “Producer, director, two other sound guys, a tech guy, screenwriters. But this is just an unofficial reading organized by these nerds. So basically, this is six guys reading an incomplete script for “fun”.”

“Oh.” Evan said. He looked at his feet. These people seemed to all know each other. He didn’t know any of them. He felt out of place. He shouldn’t have come. 

He was dragged out of his thoughts when he felt a slap to his back, full force.

“For the love of god, Evan! Calm down, we don’t bite. You’re so tense I can practically feel it.” Jonathan smiled at him. 

“Let’s get this going then, huh? We need to make Evan feel at home right now.”

“Is he reading?” Brock asked. 

Evan flushed. “Ah no, no I uh-no-uh.”

“Yes, he will.”

Evan stared at Jonathan, completely and utterly betrayed by him. 

Jonathan just smiled at him. “Here, you’ll be next to me.” He walked over to one of the the chairs and plopped down. Evan sat to his right as the other all also took their places. Evan looked at the basic character design of Vanoss. A tall, tan, well built boy with glowing golden eyes. His hair was fashionably styled back and had blonde streaks in it. He was definitely an attractive character. 

Evan leaned over towards Jonathan a bit, glancing at his character’s design.

“Evan, you could’ve just asked.” Jonathan pushed the drawing closer to Evan and went to flip through his script.

Evan flushed a bit before examining the design more clearly. While Vanoss’ character had a black, red, and yellow color pallet, Delirious’s was centered around different shades of blue alongside some white. The thing that threw Evan off was that Delirious had clown makeup all over his face. 

“I thought this was a kids show.”

“Honestly? It’s kind of deviated from that already.” Jonathan said. “I know Delirious looks a little insane, and maybe he is, but he’s a really intriguing character. So much fucking fun to give him a voice.”

“You guys ready?” Luke asked them. 

“Let’s get ‘er goin’!” Daithi said. 

Evan watched Jonathan and Daithi put on their headphones and step forward a bit closer to their mics. 

Ryan was next to him and sat down to watch, so Evan followed suit. 

Ryan leaned towards Evan a little bit. “These two are incredible. I don’t think you’re ready. It’s like they become completely different people.” He whispered before leaning back.

Jonathan had already told Evan that they’d be starting from the beginning of the pilot since this was unofficial. He said during normal readings, they tend to jump all over the place, but they do tend to go episode by episode. 

But he was not expecting this. Only a few lines had been said and Evan knew immediately that Ryan was right. Jonathan seemed six times louder and more exuberant. Daithi’s voice was deeper and his accent was a little less prominent. They were just reading their lines, it was just a scene to introduce the characters. They were training, fighting. Delirious was shooting arrows at Nogla. Nogla had to avoid them and was attempting to use his throwing knives to take Delirious out. Apparently, neither weapon was deadly and would only shock the other or something. 

But the dynamic between the characters that Jonathan and Daithi brought to the table was amazing. 

Evan could basically see the two drawn characters playfully teasing each other and training together. Delirious would laugh as he aimed the arrow towards Nogla. Nogla would stumble a bit and cry out in anger when he missed his knife throws. Daithi and Jonathan made it seem natural. Second nature. It was stunning. Breathtaking. Immersive. 

And Evan loved it. 

He closed his eyes and just listened, eager to just let himself imagine the scene. They were about to stumble on the robot. Delirious had shot a stray arrow and was tracking it, and they ended up finding it on a big chunk of metal.

The robot. Right. Evan remembered what Jonathan had told him. He opened his eyes when he felt a nudge. Ryan.

“We’ll be up soon.” He said, before standing up. Evan followed suit, staring at the script. “Page 18, Evan.”

Evan flipped to the right page and put the headphones around his neck. “Basically, make distressed sounds, as Vanoss is gagged. If you need something, bite your shirt and do it through that. That’s a trick I use from time to time. It’ll help.”

Evan nodded nervously. Daithi and Jonathan were still saying their lines.

“Look.” Ryan sighed as he pulled on his headphones. “Just let yourself become Vanoss. Put yourself into the world, become completely immersed. Relax. It’ll help.”

Evan didn’t think he really needed to relax to become completely immersed, he was doing well enough with that whilst being nervous. He slowly pulled on his headphones, and suddenly, all he heard was Jonathan and Daithi. No outside sound, just their voices with a slight echo. 

He saw everyone else also take their positions and watched as their lines came up. His eyes followed the words down all the way to his line. It wasn’t hard. Just muffled grunts and exhausted muffled words. He read it easily and didn’t even have to bite his shirt.

He glanced at Jonathan as he was finishing it, who was watching him. Jonathan winked before yelling his characters name in anguish.

“NO! NOT VANOSS! HOW’D HE EVEN GET THERE?! HE’S SUPPOSED TO BE ON A MISSION!”

“Delirious, Stop!” Daithi said.

Evan followed the the lines as they read them. It was interesting. Jonathan hadn’t explained why Delirious cared about Vanoss, and Evan was curious. 

Jonathan finished another line before turning and smiling at Evan. He leaned away from his mic and close to Evan. 

“It’s fun, isn’t it? You’re a natural.”

A few hours later, and Jonathan was driving Evan home. 

“Thank you.” Evan said, looking at his lap.

“What for?”

“I really loved that. It’s not something I would’ve done unless you forced me, so, thank you.”

He heard Jonathan snort. “You’re welcome. It works out for both of us.”

Jonathan pulled up in front of his house. “Here, I’ll walk you to your door.”

They both got out of the car and walked to the house. Evan unlocked the door, trying to escape from the chilly air. He turned on the lights and left the door open.

“You coming in?”

“Nah, I should get going.” 

“Well, thank you for everything. I hope you have a good night.” Evan leaned against the doorframe.

“You too.” Jonathan started to walk away towards his car, but stopped to wave.

It was a cold night, the air was crisp and fresh. The lights of the city reflected off the clouds, creating a dull glow. Evan's neighbors had been watering, so a spring-like smell lingered in the air. The light from his house poured out onto his front yard and Jonathan’s car. He was full of joy. It was a beautiful night.

But when he saw Jonathan wave, that all went away. It was like his vision focused on the one thing he wished he could ignore. 

Because when Jonathan waved, his tank top rose a tiny bit, revealing dark blue bruises along his abdomen.

So Evan moved. He sprinted towards Jonathan and stopped right in front of him.

“What are you doing?”

Evan put his hands on Jonathan's shoulders.

“Would you please stay the night with me?” He asked. 


	4. I understand

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't even begin to talk about how hard this is to write. This chapter specifically. I'm really sorry it took so long, but I just couldn't figure out the way I wanted to write this. But, I hope it's good, and I hope ye enjoy.
> 
> (and seriously thank you guys so unbelievably much for the comments and kudos. I recently went through the comments and they made me just cry I was so happy.)

“Excuse me?”

“Just stay.”

Evan watched Jonathan frown. 

“Evan, I have to get back to Avery.”

“Jonathan, please.” Evan pleaded. He might’ve just been assuming but he couldn’t let him go back to Avery until he knew for sure. 

Jonathan sighed. “Give me a second.” Evan watched as he pulled out his phone. 

“Hey, Avery. It’s Jonathan. A friend has asked me to stay at his place, so I won’t be coming home tonight.”

A pause. 

“I know. I’m sorry.” Jonathan started to pace. “Does that matter? Avery, come on, we’ve been through this. He’s just a  _ friend _ . Trust me.”

Evan watched as Jonathan groaned quietly. 

“Fine. Sorry I asked.” Evan watched as he put his phone in his pocket and glanced at him. 

“Sorry Evan. I can’t. Maybe some other time.”

“Are you going home to him?”

Jonathan frowned. “Well, we do live together. Not like I have anywhere else to go.”

“Jonathan…”

“Evan. I still barely know you. It’s a little early in our relationship for you to be so clingy.” 

Evan watched Jonathan laugh lightly at his own joke. 

Jonathan turned around and continued walking towards his car. “Well then, good nig-“

“Is he hitting you?”

Evan watched Jonathan come to a complete stand still. He didn’t turn around. 

“No. He isn’t. I just got into a fight a while back with a guy from a bar.” Jonathan continued walking away. “Good night Evan. I’ll text you later.”

Evan watched him get into his car and drive off before stumbling back towards his house and plopping on the couch. 

He hadn’t seen those bruises when he’d last given him a massage. He hasn’t seen any signs of abuse except for a few scars here or there. But, he never questioned them. 

He didn’t know what to do in this situation. He might be assuming things. But he was worried. If Avery was actually hitting Jonathan, Evan needed to get him out of that. 

Maybe it wasn’t his place. Evan sighed and pulled out his phone. 

**_I’m sorry. It wasn’t my place. I was just worried, but I shouldn’t have stuck my nose in your business. Have a good night. I hope to see you soon._ **

Evan waited for about twenty minutes before giving up. He wasn’t going to respond. 

 

Jonathan sighed as he got out of his car. He had a feeling Avery would’ve demanded him at home when he called him. 

And he can’t say he really wanted to stay with Evan. He saw the bruises. 

He didn’t want that conversation. 

“I’m home.” He said as he walked through the door. He pulled off his shoes and dropped them on the tile before stepping onto the black carpet. 

He saw Avery poke his head out from the kitchen into the hallway. “Hey.”

“How was your day?” Jonathan asked as he walked towards Avery.

“Pretty good. Yours?”

“It was good. I finally brought Evan to the reading and he did really well.”

“Well, I’m making dinner right now, it’ll be ready in a couple of minutes.”

Jonathan walked past him to the fridge in the kitchen. “What’ll you want to drink?”

“Just a beer.” 

Jonathan nodded as he grabbed a beer and a water for himself. He set the beer next to the stove before sitting at the kitchen table. After a few minutes, Avery walked over with bowls of pasta. “Can you get silverware?”

Jonathan nodded and bright some over. He was about to sit at the table again when Avery wrapped his arms around Jonathan’s waist. 

And Jonathan flinched. He shook Avery’s arms off and sat quickly down into the chair.

“Oh god. Jon…” Avery said quietly. He sat down next to Jonathan.

Jonathan looked at his food.   
“I’m so sorry. I’m so so sorry. I never meant to-Oh god.” 

Jonathan watched Avery start to tear up. He put his head in his hands and started to cry.

Jonathan sighed. “Avery. For the last time, it’s okay.”

“It’s not! If I hadn’t had such a bad day, if I hadn’t pushed you, if I hadn’t-“

“Avery.”

“I’m not that guy Jon.”

“I know.” 

“I'm the biggest asshole on the planet. You should dump me right now.” Avery said into his hands. 

“Oh for the love of-” Jonathan pulled Avery away from his hands and into a kiss. 

“I'm not afraid of you. I know you're not a bad guy. It was a bad night. I get it. It happens.” Jonathan pecked his lips again. “It'll take more than that to make me break up with you.”

Avery looked at him for a second before pulling him into a hug. “You're too good for me.”

“I'm too good for everyone.” Jonathan said, chuckling. 

“Yeah. You are.”

Jonathan pat Avery on the back lightly. “Come on, let's eat.”

Avery nodded and they went to their dinner, laughing at jokes and just enjoying each other's company. 

It was only later when Jonathan was lazily playing some games on his Xbox with Avery asleep next to him when he saw Evan's text. 

He felt a wave of guilt crash over him. It must've seemed like he wanted to get out of that situation as fast as possible. He carefully sat up from the couch and walked into their backyard. 

He was proud of their backyard, he had basically built and designed it himself. There was a massive pool that some with pink and purple lights at night. Jonathan adored swimming so the pool was an absolute must. There was grass everywhere and a huge flower garden traced the walls. Their porch had little fairy lights hanging from the ceiling and overhang.

Jonathan walked to the edge of the pool before rolling up his pant legs and letting his legs hang in the water. 

He picked up his phone before carefully tapping on his recent messages before pulling up his contact for Evan. 

He tapped the call icon and waited. 

“Jonathan?”

“Evan. Hey.”

“You got my text?

“Yes.”

There was a pause. “I'm sorry about earlier, I was being stupid and invasive.”

“It's fine Evan. Really. It was just a bar fight.”

“How long ago?”

“I dunno maybe a week or so?”

“Jonathan. Don't lie to me.”

“Evan.”

“I know I said I wouldn't push but-” A pause. “I know you're lying.”

“Evan…”

“Don’t.” Jonathan heard him sigh.”Those bruises weren't there the last time I gave you a massage. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to but-”

Jonathan didn’t know what to do. Honestly and genuinely, Avery was a good guy. But there was no good way to say that he had pushed him and hit him. 

“It was stupid, he thought I was cheating on him and he had gotten yelled at at work. He had a bad day, and I was arguing with him and he just kind of snapped. As you know, I’m really stubborn, and I was pushing it. He felt terrible as soon as it happened,” Jonathan took a deep breath. “He fell to floor and started crying and apologizing. All I hear from him anymore is ‘I’m sorry’. It’s no big deal Evan. He’s a good guy.”

Evan was absolutely livid. Jonathan was hit. The short, happy, joking Jonathan. The man who obviously had a history. The man who seems like he wouldn’t give his heart to others easily, was hit. Evan may not know much about Jonathan, or why he seems closed off at times, but he was mad. Jonathan didn’t deserve this.

“Jonathan. That’s not something you can forgive.”

“Evan, that’s not-”

“It doesn't matter if it was an accident, or if it was-”

“Evan, he’s a good guy.”

“But that’s completely unforgivable! It happens once, it’ll happen again Jonathan.”

“Everything is forgivable.”

“Not this.”   
“Evan, I swear to god.” Jonathan laid down on his back, arm over his eyes as he argued with Evan. “I thought you said you wouldn’t push it. For the last time, it’s fine. It’s in the past and I’ve moved on.”

“...Sorry.”

Jonathan heard the door leading to the backyard open and close.

“Whatever. It’s fine. I’ll talk to you later Evan. I’ll schedule an appointment in the upcoming week. Make sure you sign the contract with the show!”

Evan heard the beep of the call ending.  _ Shit!  _ He threw his phone onto the couch. Jonathan shouldn’t be with someone who hit him. Even once. It’s not fucking okay.

“Everything is forgivable, my ass.”

He should’ve pushed harder than he did. He should’ve made Jonathan stay with him. He’d never hurt Jonathan, but Avery clearly would.

Evan knew something needed to be done. He just didn’t know what.

* * *

 

“You shouldn’t be with him.” Evan dug his fingers into Jonathan’s back rather harshly.

“Evannnnn…” Jonathan groaned. 

“I know I said I wouldn’t mention it, but-”

“Here we are.”

“Sorry.” Evan jabbed his side lightly. “Roll.”

As Jonathan rolled, Evan saw the remnants of the bruises along his abdomen. There were less than he thought. Didn’t make him any less angry.

“Evan, stop looking at them.” Jonathan glared at him through his bangs. “If you bring it up again, I won’t make any more appointments.”

“Fine, fine.” Evan carefully rubbed at Jonathan’s calves, slowly working his way up his legs, massaging the muscles.

“Good. If you were gonna be like this every time you saw me, I would’ve had to quit the show.”

Evan paused, both hands on Jonathan’s right leg, right above the the knee. 

“Am I-”

Jonathan smiled wide. “Your contract has officially been processed, you are one hundred percent cast as Vanoss. Officially.”

Evan pushed himself up to get closer to Jonathan, putting both hands on his thighs.

“Officially?”

“Officially.” Jonathan grinned.

Evan laughed and pulled him into a hug. 

“I remember when you hated the idea of voice acting.”

“Shuddup.” Evan said, pulling away. “When’s the next session?”

“Saturday.”

“Could you drive me again?”

“Absolutely.” Jonathan laid onto his back again as Evan continued the massage, smiling to himself. This meant more time spent by Jonathan’s side. More time to protect him. He knew how important this was, how real this was. 

“Jonathan?”

“Hmm?”

“Why are you still with him?”

“I said I wouldn’t make any more appointments if you-“

“Jonathan. I mean it. Just answer this and I’ll leave it alone.” Evan stilled, waiting for Jonathan to answer. He  _ needed  _ an answer. 

“He’s all I have.”

“You have friends, you have-”

“He was there when it mattered, he’s been there when I-” Jonathan rubbed his wrists carefully. “He’s all I have.” He whispered to himself.

Evan watched as Jonathan rubbed his wrists and closed his eyes, taking deep breaths. 

“I can’t just leave. Pain is normal, but so is love and appreciation. Affection, joy, sadness, pain. It all goes hand in hand, it’s life. He’s not a bad person.”

Evan was unconvinced. Good people don’t hit their loved ones. They don’t emotionally and physicall harm their loved ones. But, he didn’t want to put his friend through this. Jonathan seemed so small on the massage table in front of Evan. Evan slowly wrapped his arms around Jonathan, pulling him into a hug. 

“I’m sorry for pushing you. Again. I’m just-”

“I know Evan.”

* * *

 

“Thanks for the massage!”

Evan watched as Jonathan walked out of the spa and waved at his back lightly.

Craig was leaning against the receptionist desk watching Evan stare at this man’s back.

“Evan, you are so smitten.”

He watched Evan sigh and rest his head in his hand. “He’s taken. By someone he is way too good for.”

“What?”

“Doesn’t matter. I’ll be able to keep an eye on him once we start recording all the time.”

“Are you really quitting here?”

Craig watched Evan sigh. “I already handed my two-week notice in. It’s done. Set in stone.”

“Without you here, we’re gonna lose a lot of business.”

“I should be able to return. I went over it with the boss and with corporate. If things go south with the show, I’ll come right back.”

“Well, I hope things go well.”

Evan does too. For multiple reasons. 

 


End file.
